


5 times Shane helped Ryan out of a panic attack

by mosslossross



Category: Buzzfeed Unsolved (Web Series)
Genre: 5+1 Things, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Not Beta Read, Panic Attacks, also not slash please don't assume this is slash, its just dudes being bros, no beta we die like men, not quite all attacks but just some stressed bois
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-12
Updated: 2020-08-14
Packaged: 2021-03-04 19:41:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,343
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25211839
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mosslossross/pseuds/mosslossross
Summary: ...And the 1 time Ryan did the same back
Relationships: Ryan Bergara & Shane Madej
Comments: 3
Kudos: 72





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone! A few things you might want to know:
> 
> 1\. I've never experienced myself or others having a panic attack, and not all of the chapters have full blown attacks, so feel free to criticize me on how I write them
> 
> 2\. I was going to wait to post all the chapters at once, but I've been in a writing slump after writing the first 1 and a half chapters for this, so I thought posting the first one would get people interested and get me motivated to continue writing, so it may be a while before I post the rest of the chapters.
> 
> And 3. I wrote this all on my phone so it's both short and probably has spelling errors. I also posted it on my phone. [currently in editing, note will be removed when done]

1.  
The first time Shane had to help out Ryan with a panic attack, he was a little underprepared. It had been not too long after they'd joined Buzzfeed, but during the time frame they were filming test friends together near the very beginning of their friendship.

Ryan had been super stressed out that week, with a bunch of test friends videos being filmed and he'd been stuck with a bunch of writing and editing for other videos at the same time. Shane had noticed and tried to help out as much as he could, regularly bringing Ryan drinks to make sure he had something in his body.

It was because of this that Shane found Ryan in the lounge room, eyes unfocused and staring at the coffee machine. His hands were shaking at his sides and you could tell just by looking at him he was breathing too fast.

"Ryan? You okay man?" Shane asked, worried for his friends health. He moved closer to put his hand on the other man's shoulder

Ryan started at that, eyes focusing as he turned to look at Shane with a thinly veiled panicked expression. "What? I, uh... no, yeah, I'm alright, uh. Yeah."

Shane raised his eyebrow at that. "Yeah, no, you're clearly not. Here, come on."

He steered Ryan over to one of the couches in the lounge, letting him sit before grabbing a cup, boiling some water, and grabbing some tea the company had bought a month ago but barely anyone used. He started brewing some coffee for himself.

"So," he said, startling Ryan again, "Do you want to talk about what's got you so worked up?"

Ryan looked up from where he was wringing his hand and breathing too fast, stumbling over his words. "Ah, well, nothing's wrong. Im- I'm fine... its, uh, its stupid." He said, looking down at his hands and moving them from twitching to rubbing them on his thighs, then to holding them together.

"Ryan, buddy, whatever's stressing you out is obviously not nothing. I get it if you don't want to tell, but just know you can tell me if you're comfortable." He smiles comfortingly at Ryan before grabbing the two mugs, handing Ryan the tea and sitting next to him on the couch.

"Just try not to hyperventilate and pass out while drinking your tea, though. That'd be a mess."

Ryan huffs amusedly at that, taking a drink from the mug. His breathing is starting to even out and he looks a lot calmer than a few minutes before.

They sit like that for a few minutes in a comfortable silence, drinking from their mugs before Ryan speaks.

"I'm just so stretched between projects, y'know? With test friends ramping up production to balance out less views, editing and writing new videos, and to top it all off I'm super anxious because tomorrow I'm presenting a new series idea to the higher ups that I really want to go well."

Shane nods, "I'm sure you'll do great. If you need some help or just need to talk, don't be afraid to call me, okay?

Ryan smiles softly. "Alright."


	2. Chapter 2

2.  
The second time, Shane's woken out of half-sleep at 1 am by a phone call about two months later. Without looking at the contact name, he answers.

"H'llo?" He answers, scrubbing his face with his hand and sitting up from where he'd dozed on the couch.

"Hey, uh, Shane, its Ryan. I- is this a good time? I can- did I wake you up? I, uh, it can wait if- if it's to early."

Shane wakes up a little more then, fumbling to pause the show that was still playing on his tv. Ryan's voice is light and quick, as if he's struggling to breathe-

Ah.

"No, no it's fine, I was just watching tv. Are you alright? Try and take some deep breaths."

Some wheezy breaths stutter out from the other end of the line.

After the first time, Shane had looked up how to help Ryan with his attacks. Although Shane had never really been around someone with them before, he learned that they were more common than he'd assume and to help, he should calm the person down and get them to drink some water.

"Yeah, deep breaths. In four, out four."

They stay like that for a few minutes, Ryan's stuttering breaths and Shane's soothing instructions being the only sound in the apartment. Shane turns on a few of his lights, wincing sharply at the sudden light as he does so, and grabs a snack from a cupboard once Ryan's breathing has smoothed into the actually-inhaling-oxygen kind.

"So, you ready to talk about what happened, or would you rather me rant about crimes against the popcorn kind until 3 am?"

Ryan let's out a slightly painful-sounding wheeze at that, and Shane does too, even though he's completely serious about ranting in order to distract Ryan if he needs that right now.

"I didn't know you could witness such a thing, seeing the kind of shit you've put on your popcorn."

Shane smiles, spitting out an indignant 'hey!' before starting out on a story where he'd seen a middle aged movie-goer pull out an entire refill container of salt from his pocket before dumping the whole thing on his popcorn.

The topic of conversation eventually varies from half-popped popcorn to the band Car Seat Headrest for the next hour, before Ryan lets out an incredibly loud yawn in a lull of conversation.

"Time for the baby to be put to sleep?" Shane asks mockingly, although fighting a yawn himself.

There's a loud flomph sound from the phone's speakers, before Ryan mumbles, "Fuck you, dude." Its muffled from where Ryan's probably stuck his face into a pillow.

Shane laughs, heading towards his bedroom himself. "Just pointing out the facts, Ry Guy."

When there's no response from the other side he assumes Ryan's already asleep and hangs up before falling asleep shortly after. And, if the next day he brings Ryan some of the nice coffee from a cozy shop down the street from Buzzfeed HQ, neither of them comment on it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact I'm like 90% sure Shane has mentioned that his favorite band is 'Car Seat Headrest' and Ryan mocked him for it being so wierd and underground, I just cant remember if it was a postmortem or a Watcher-related thing


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I may have kinda forgotten about this fic for a bit, but guess what? I'm back!

3.  
The third time, Shane was able to anticipate and help keep Ryan out of a full blown attack, just flitting somewhere above mind numbing fear.

The thing is, Ryan wears his heart on his sleeve. When he's excited, he'll ramble about the strange facts he found on whatever he's interested in. When he's nervous, he'll double and triple check everything in his vicinity to make sure nothing goes wrong. And when he's scared because the location they're shooting at is for the demon episode, and it's one of the most active hauntings in the world and oh my god Shane, what in the ever loving fuck was that, don't even try and say that was the wind, shit; his hands will start shaking, and he'll immediately gravitate towards the closest person to him and start fidgeting with his clothes and equipment, eyes blown wide.

In this case, the closest person happens to be Shane, especially since the rest of the crew are out of frame behind the cameras, so it takes only a moment for Ryan to becomes glued to his side.

Shane claps his hand on Ryan's shoulder, putting gentle pressure in to the hold to help reassure him, before saying, "Well, you know, I don't think that was the wind, anyways."

Ryan turns to him at that. "What?"

Shane let's his hand fall of Ryan's shoulder. "Well," he leans down closer to Ryan, looking around in an over-the-top suspicious way, before putting his hand next to his mouth and stage whispering, "I think it was the sound of and old building settling."

Ryan wheezes a bit at that, jokingly shoving Shane and saying something along the lines of, 'idiot skeptic,' but relaxed somewhat anyways.

The rest of the investigation, Shane makes sure to stay a little closer, along with occasionally jokingly bumping into him as a reminder that he's here for him.


End file.
